Originally Posted by cmansguns

Hello Don,
I am not a Luger expert by any means but back around 2003 there was a lot if interest in serial numbers for the so-called "Black Widow" Lugers. The first thing to realize is that the term "Black Widow" was the marketing invention of a man in Arizona who sold Lugers. Ralph Shatuck was the man and the dang term stuck over the years, mostly by USA Collectors. Even renowned auction houses like Simpson Ltd began to "use it" in thier adds, and still do.

Most serious Luger collectors of days gone by (20-30 years ago) disdained the cheap looking black plastic grips, much like we S&W and Colt collectors disdain the Franzite grips.

But the rumors of only issuing the Black Widow Lugers to the SS are still around today.....all debunked as untrue marketing ploys (unfortunately that worked on unsuspecting new buyers)!

Mauser Werks was given the wartime code of byf and their production was approx. 10,000 per month in 1940,41 and into 42. The block letters (lower case font) indicated not exactly a particular month, but more a "block" of 10000. Mauser produced approx 10,000 Lugers in January 1941, however the black plastic (bakelite) wasn't approved until June of 1941 and even the experts cannot agree to exactly what serial numbers and blocks would have contained only the black grips and magazines.

The most informative book on these (and other wartime Lugers) is Jan C. Still book Third Reich Lugers. I sold mine years ago, but maybe you can still find it on the Amazing site.

The key to your grips being genuine (and there are MANY, MANY fakes out there) is usually the threaded hole on the backside. The main accepted theory of validity is that the hole was there to release the grip from the mold, and it is English Whitworth thread, because the Mauser machinery was English for automated screw manufacturing in those pre-war II days. Jan Still I believe passed away some years ago but I think that a man (Ed Tinker) who is a noted authority on Lugers picked the website. The man I previously mentioned (Dave Trout) kept a database of genuine, validated by him, black resin (bakelite) grips and the serial number and block number Lugers they were issued on.

The true grips are also shiny around the borders of the checkering (like yours in the pictures you posted).

I think you do have a very nice original, and if you check at Simpson Ltd their current auctions have "black widow" listed at $3250, $3495, $4200, $5000, $5500, $6000...many of which are marked sold. The one listing at $1600 is noted as reblued, and has fake (repro) black plastic grips.

If you have no import marks anywhere on your gun, and can get the grips and FXO magazine validated yours is most likely in that high money group somewhere should you ever need, or want to sell.

Again.......I'm no expert at all.....most of my research was done years ago via Jan Still and Ed Tinker books and the aforementioned Forum.

Good luck, you have a real nice piece of history in your hands.